I like year end lists as much as the next person but when it comes to television, this year I'd like to look forward. That's because in a couple of weeks, the cream of the television crop will arrive. Shows like "Lost," "24," and "Damages" will finally be back and I for one will be thrilled. Let's check out some of what's coming up in the next few weeks...wait, what's that you say? You insist that I take a quick look back at the fall season? Oh, all right. First let's spare a brief moment for:

Ah fall! When the weather gets colder, the leaves turn pretty colors and the DVR overheats from taping so many of the Fall TV shows. A couple of weeks ago I told you what returning shows I was waiting for like a kid on Christmas morning, and now that I've seen a few, I'm here to report back on What's Cool and What's Crappy.

Television's biggest night had drama, pathos, and naked people on the stage...well, maybe not naked people on the stage, but I got your attention didn't I? Last night was the 2008 Emmy Awards and since I never believe in watching the show in real time, I use Megan's Patented DVR Shortcut Method.  How it works is I start watching the recorded show about an hour and a half before the live show ends, then I try to click through fast enough to finish watching the DVR version just as the live show ends.That way, you watch three hours worth of inane speeches and bad hosting jokes in an hour and a half.  It's a better viewing value.  On with the show.

The ad men of AMC's "Mad Men" are sleek, stylish and mired in a 60's culture that's been meticulously recreated.  They smoke like bad oil, they drink like cheap dates and they sleep around like they've earned the right.  Three weeks into the show's second season and just a few weeks before going for sixteen primetime Emmy awards, "Mad Men" is maintaining its buzz.

It's still a month and a half to the primetime Emmy Awards, and I'm wondering what the nominees might be up to. I'm sure all the actors and actresses are being inundated with offers of clothes and jewelry from every well known and some not so well known designers.   I'll be interested to see what some of my favorite nominees will be wearing:  Glenn Close, Ted Danson and Zeljko Ivanek of "Damages;"  America Ferrera and Vanessa Williams of "Ugly Betty;"  Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother" and Hugh Laurie of "House."

The lead character on "In Plain Sight" should have been a black woman.   How's that for an opening line? But I'm serious.  She should have been a black woman.  Why do I say this?  Because after watching the pilot episode of "In Plain Sight" and several episodes since, I keep thinking:  what a bland show.  It's kind of like watching a show that's set in New York but was shot on the gritty streets of Toronto:  there's nothing special about it and it's obvious to anyone who's been there, it's not New York.

Last night "Desperate Housewives" returned to its ABC-TV Sunday night niche after the long writers' strike. The episode was a good one, but not the big, bang, boom one I had hoped for. More on that later. First, a hot "DH" scoop/rumor.

YouTube has a slick, new competitor on it's hands and it's name is Hulu. Hulu is the new video website where you can watch classic and current TV shows and movies.  Hulu was the brain child of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and NBC Universal. Though the lineup of programming is still somewhat thin, partly because it's primarily chock full of Fox and NBC programming, that will change as other big networks and movie studios jump on board.  And believe me, they will jump because I predict viewers are going to flock to the site.  As soon as viewers get a look at the clean, easy to use interface and the absolutely gorgeous quality of the programming, the site's going to be a hit.

My name is Dexter Morgan and I'm a serial killer.  Megan's allowing me to write her post this week because I make her uncomfortable.  She had mixed feelings about writing about me, because she finally saw my show and liked it.  You see, Megan finally broke down, cheapskate that she is and got Showtime. So she's gotten to know me very well in anticipation of my CBS network debut.  While she's fascinated by me, and that other guy, Michael C. Hall, she's terribly embarrassed by her attraction to me.  She really shouldn't be.  We are what we are. I'm a forensic blood spatter specialist for the Miami Police Department.  My job is to help catch killers.  But since I was a young boy, I've had those urges myself.  The only time I ever feel anything is when I kill.  I've developed good techniques for appearing normal to everyone around me, but make no mistake about it, I feel nothing.  Except of course when I can add another slide to my blood collection.

It's the eighth week of the strike by the Writers Guild of America against the movie and television studios---or as David Letterman likes to call them the "cowards, cutthroats and weasels"---and things are starting to look dire for dedicated TV junkies. The holidays are over, the families have gone home and TV junkies everywhere will be feeling the withdrawal effects of no fresh episodes of their favorite shows any day now.  It'll start when you find yourself clicking your remote channel after channel and finding nothing but lame game shows and even lamer reality shows.  Your chest will tighten, your breathing will come fast and shallow and you'll break out in a cold sweat. There's no "24," there's no "Grey's Anatomy," there's no "House," there's no "CSI!"  Don't panic.  It's TV Junkie Withdrawal.